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[Chazore]

JEMC said:

Sony's strategy is actually quite simple.

Live service games are a rare breed of products that, in most cases, either become a great succes just after launching or die equally fast. That's why Sony will launch those kind of games on as many platforms at the same time, because it's a make or break market and need as many potential consumers as possible.

And when it comes to their regular games, the question that we have to keep in mind is that Sony still makes money from its consoles (not at launch, mind you, but not too long after), and they need to give its consumers a reason to buy them. And the exclusivity period is that reason.

Of course, we can't forget why Sony is doing all this: game development keeps getting more and more expensive with each gen but the console market hasn't grown much since the PS2 era. That's why Sony needs to bring their games to another platform, to PC, so increase its sales, but they still need to be on the good side of its most loyal supporters.

I wouldn't exactly say LS games are a rarity, they are pretty much aplenty in the current market and what most publisher are still grasping onto, firmly I might add.

The weird side of wanting more focus on live services means that they care little for lasting experiences, because you and I both know a LS game will not last forever and is mostly designed as a hamster wheel for users to generate the company money (which is generally why I look down on LS games most of the time). 

I know they still make money from their consoles, but so does MS?, them selling on PC day and date hasn't massively haemorrhaged their console sales, to a point where they consider Xbox a failure and to move all in on POC (like some console fans like to believe will happen).

PC and consoles are two different markets, one where you buy a closed system in a plastic box, the other is an entire market with varied hardware, bought or built, and used for different tasks and entertainment purposes. The consoles are designed purely and only for entertainment, Sony won't lose anything by paying a bit more attention to MS's strategy of going about catering to both, it hasn't harmed MS, it likely will not harm Sony. 

Keeping me at arms length doesn't make me want to buy from you, it actually makes me distrust you, and want to give you as little money as possible, until you decide to change how you view me as a customer, because that's primarily what I'm always after, my time and money respected, that's all I'm after.

For the other big pubs out there, my checklist is simple:

Shit port: Not gonna buy

Decent port, but higher price: wait for a deep sale

Late port, but with a high price: same as above

Good port, priced decently and not late: Instant buy

Like being real here, I bought Cult of the Lamb, and I've been playing that non stop since I bought it, it's great, it's fun, it has me hooked, know what doesn't have me hooked?, waiting for Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Infamous, etc.

Game dev only gets more expensive if you're not managing your expenses properly, just look at the amount of money pubs splash on marketing, it's batshit insane. Look at the marketing push NMS got and how it bombed upon release, it took yrs of updates to get that game back in good graces, and for Cyberpunk, verbally speaking, it took a show to get ppl to hop back into the game and gab about it non stop (seriously, Youtube is fawning the fuck over the game, despite the fact that the game still feels dead and still lacks sufficient content). 

Sony won't get me to be loyal if they don't see me as a customer. if they expect me to wait 2 yrs a pop just to get a decent price and a port, then I'm less likely to buy as time goes on, because I just don't have that sort of time to be waiting 2 yrs for late stuff, when I could be buying what's out now, what respects my time and money. 

Their loyal supporters are the dreg that reside on Twitter and moan about how PC gaming nerds have weaker systems than the PS4/5, and how Sony are "making a big mistake" by launching on PC, that's not the sort of loyalty any company should want at all, and the rest out there don't even care that they are releasing on PC, they will still buy their games on their consoles or if not, on PC, but they'll still make the money either way. I just don't think this strat is going to get them the most money, because 1 is finite (live service), the other can be infinite, but is forcefully delayed, for stupid godawful nonsensical reasoning, which I again, would backhand the person thinking it's a good idea. 

Captain_Yuri said:

I think Sony has a huge backlog of games they want to port onto PC. Once they get through those games, I think the games will be coming to PC a lot quicker. The main issue with PC right now is MS is taking their sweet ass time getting Direct Storage to be GPU accelerated. So that may be one of the issues that Playstation studios are having when attempting to port games.

I just wish they picked up the pace, MS seems to have gotten to a point now where it's safe to say day and date any time, and it feels like Sony isn't going to reach that point for another decade, which is donkeys years in my eyes.

MS and them taking their sweeeeeeeeet ass time with their promised tech is one of their worst pitfalls. DX 12 still feels like shit to me, GPU scheduling still isn't rearing benefits, game bar was warped into something I dislike, and Win 11 is...well just there, but not doing much.

Feels like their game divs are doing far better at what they do compared to their tech side, which feels like it's run by snails and monkeys. Their CEO really needs to crack out the whip on their tech div, because shit is taking forever at this point. We're already on our 3rd gen of RT with GPU's, and MS is still stuck at testing phases for tech like Direct Storage.